Consider the following statements regarding Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013: 1. The Selection Committee of Lokpal consists of Chairperson of Rajya Sabha. 2. It shall apply to Indian public servants both within and outside India. Which of the above statements is/are correct?
- (a)Only 1
- (b)Only 2
- (c)1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — B, Only 2.
Statement 2 restates section 1(3) of the Act, which says it "shall apply to public servants in and outside India". Section 1(2) separately extends the Act to the whole of India, so territory and persons are settled by two different clauses. An Indian public servant posted abroad stays within reach.
Statement 1 fails against section 4(1), which names five people: the Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court judge nominated by him, and one eminent jurist nominated by the President.
So Only 2 stands. Carry away that of the four Members, the two parliamentary offices are both Lok Sabha offices — the Speaker of the House of the People and the Leader of Opposition in the House of the People — and that a statute's territorial extent and its application to persons are separate questions.
- (a)Only 1 — Choosing "Only 1" means putting the Rajya Sabha's presiding officer on the Selection Committee and denying the Act's reach over public servants posted abroad. Section 4(1) and section 1(3) go the other way on both counts.
The Chairman of the Council of States does have a place in this Act. He is the "competent authority" for a member of the Council of States under section 2, which is where his name belongs.
- (c)1 and 2 — This keeps statement 2, which is sound, and carries statement 1 along with it. The membership of the Selection Committee is fixed by name and office in section 4(1), and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is not among the five listed there.
It would be the right answer to a stem whose first statement named the Chief Justice of India, or a Supreme Court judge nominated by him, as a member of the Selection Committee — clause (d) — since statement 2 would still hold.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — This discards a statement the Act supports. Section 1(3) applies the Act to public servants in and outside India, which is exactly what statement 2 asserts, so the pair cannot be emptied.
It would be the right answer to a version whose second statement confined the Act to public servants serving inside India — a false membership claim beside a false reach claim leaves nothing standing.
Section 1 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 separates two things a statute must settle. Extent is territorial — the whole of India. Application is about persons — public servants in and outside India. A public servant does not step outside the Act by being posted abroad.
Appointment is a separate question. The Chairperson and Members of the Lokpal are appointed by the President only after obtaining the recommendations of a Selection Committee whose membership the Act fixes by office, leaving no discretion to add or substitute a name.
The Act creates a Lokpal for the Union and requires Lokayuktas in the States, which is why both words sit in its title. Its preamble records that India has ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
The Selection Committee is the Act's answer to the question behind the long Lokpal debate — who chooses the watchdog. The design balances the government, the opposition and the judiciary in one panel, which is why each named office carries weight.
- Section 1(2) extends the Act to the whole of India; section 1(3) applies it to public servants in and outside India.
- Section 4(1): the President appoints the Chairperson and Members after obtaining the recommendations of a Selection Committee.
- The Prime Minister is Chairperson of that Selection Committee, with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha as Members.
- A further Member is the Chief Justice of India or a Judge of the Supreme Court nominated by him.
- The fifth is one eminent jurist, recommended by the other four members and nominated by the President.
- Section 4(2): no appointment is invalid merely by reason of a vacancy in the Selection Committee.
- Section 4(3): the Selection Committee constitutes a Search Committee of at least seven persons to prepare a panel of names.
- Section 3(2): the Lokpal has a Chairperson and Members not exceeding eight, of whom fifty per cent shall be Judicial Members.
- Section 63 requires every State to establish a Lokayukta by a law of the State Legislature within one year of the Act's commencement.
- The Act received the President's assent on 1 January 2014 and is numbered Act No. 1 of 2014.
Among the four Members, the two parliamentary offices are Lok Sabha offices; the Chairman of the Council of States enters this Act at section 2 instead. The highlighted lines are the two the stem tests.
- Treating 'presiding officer of a House' as interchangeable: section 4(1) names the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, and substituting the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is enough to make a statement false.
- Stopping at 'extends to the whole of India' and reading the Act as territorially bounded — the application clause separately reaches public servants posted outside India.
- Letting the statement you are sure of decide the whole item: statement 2 being sound settles nothing about statement 1, and the choice between 'Only 2' and '1 and 2' turns on the panel's membership alone.
- Merging the Selection Committee with the Search Committee it constitutes under section 4(3), which has at least seven members and only prepares a panel of names.
- Assuming the Lokpal's Chairperson must be a Chief Justice of India — section 3(2)(a) also admits a sitting or former Supreme Court judge, or an eminent person meeting the stated eligibility.
The provision turns up as a composition item — the panel printed with one office swapped for another — and as a reach item, where a statement narrows the Act to public servants inside India.
A two-statement stem such as this one puts both together, so the reach rule alone does not settle the answer; the membership list decides between 'Only 2' and '1 and 2'. The single-office form — which one office is a Member — is the shape of the first practice question below.
UPSC_2025_GS1_Q982025Same reach rule, stated in reverse: its first statement claims the Lokpal's power does not extend to Indian public servants posted outside India, so section 1(3) decides both items. What differs is the company it keeps — that stem runs the reach point alongside the Chairperson's qualifications across a longer list of statements, while this one pairs it with the Selection Committee's membership.
UPSC_2026_GS1_Q842026The same device on a different body — the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha written into a committee's composition and appointment rule, to be judged against the governing text. What differs is the text you must know: that item turns on a parliamentary committee's membership numbers and who appoints its Chairperson, not on a selection committee named in an Act of Parliament.
UPPSC_2024_PRE_GSI_Q1302024The same section 4(1) list, with the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha planted among four names beside the CJI-or-nominee, the Speaker and the Leader of Opposition. What differs is the task: there you pick the valid subset out of four listed names, whereas here that single false name is one half of a two-statement pair, and the eminent jurist does not appear in the UPPSC list at all.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, which one of the following is a Member of the Selection Committee that recommends appointments to the Lokpal?
- (a)The Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
- (b)The Speaker of the Lok Sabha
- (c)The Union Home Minister
- (d)The Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
Answerb — Section 4(1) names the Speaker of the House of the People as a Member, alongside the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the CJI or a judge nominated by him, and an eminent jurist.Neither the Chairman nor the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is in that list. The Deputy Chairman of the Council of States belongs to the committee that recommends NHRC appointments under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
The Union Home Minister belongs to the committee that recommends appointments to the Central Vigilance Commission, with the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Consider the following statements regarding the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013: 1. Every State is required to establish a Lokayukta by a law made by the State Legislature. 2. One Member of the Lokpal's Selection Committee is an eminent jurist nominated by the President. Which of the above statements is/are correct?
- (a)Only 1
- (b)Only 2
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Answerc — Both are in the Act. Section 63 requires every State to establish a body known as the Lokayukta for the State, by a law made by the State Legislature, within one year of the Act's commencement.Statement 2 is clause (e) of section 4(1): one eminent jurist, recommended by the other four members of the Committee and nominated by the President.
'Only 1' drops that jurist, 'Only 2' drops the section 63 obligation, and 'Neither 1 nor 2' denies both.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following statements about the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 is correct?
- (a)Its application is confined to public servants serving within the territory of India.
- (b)The Chairperson and Members of the Lokpal are appointed by the President after obtaining the recommendations of a Selection Committee.
- (c)The Chief Justice of India is, ex officio, the Chairperson of the Lokpal.
- (d)The Lokpal consists of a Chairperson and Members not exceeding four.
Answerb — This is section 4(1) in its own words: appointment by the President on the recommendations of the Selection Committee.(a) contradicts section 1(3), which applies the Act to public servants in and outside India.
(c) misreads section 3(2)(a). The Chairperson is a person who is or has been Chief Justice of India, or is or has been a Judge of the Supreme Court, or an eminent person meeting the stated eligibility — the post is filled by appointment, not held by virtue of another office.
(d) understates section 3(2)(b), which allows Members not exceeding eight.